Recently there has been promoted development of a technique for machining a product (a machining-target object) into a complex shape by using an NC program on a machining device. The NC program, however, needs to be programmed beforehand so that a user (e.g., an operator) of the machinery can easily machine the product.
In a conventional system for programming NC programs based on CAD (Computer Aided Design) data, when an NC program for surface machining such as slicing or pocket milling is to be programmed, a machining-target-area defining unit included in a computer aided manufacturing (CAM) system defines a machining-target area by selecting/extracting a shape that prescribes the machining-target area from shape data that is created by a CAD system, and an NC-program programming unit programs an NC program by adding machining conditions to data on the defined machining-target area (for example, see Patent Document 1).
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open No. H05-20402 (pages 2 to 4, FIG. 1)